


Genius

by Sandyclaws68



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Different First Meeting, Developing Relationship, Gen, Get Together, M/M, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-08-13
Updated: 2016-08-13
Packaged: 2018-08-08 10:22:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,713
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7753939
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Sandyclaws68/pseuds/Sandyclaws68
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sometimes the thing you want most in the world is right in front of your face.</p><p>From otpprompts on Tumblr<br/><i>Imagine your OTP working together. Person A is the boss/manager and is very rich and successful and Person B is their personal assistant who also happens to have a huge crush on Person A. They are so used to being together at the workplace that they often hang out outside of work, go to public events, even to each other’s houses.</i></p>
            </blockquote>





	Genius

Pretty much everyone believed that Sugawara Koushi was as eccentric as he was brilliant. A college graduate at sixteen and a successful app developer at seventeen, he made his first million by his eighteenth birthday and was a multi-millionaire by age twenty. Rumor had it that he was a virtual hermit, living in a secure, ten acre compound north of Sendai with its own water treatment facility and power generator. They said the house had at least 30 rooms and the reclusive genius shared it with nearly forty cats and dogs.

Sawamura Daichi could definitely be counted among the believers. Well, about everything except the house. He knew for a fact that the compound was only two acres, the water treatment facility was a small filtration unit attached to the kitchen faucet, and the power generator was a portable one for emergency use only. The house had only fourteen rooms, five cats, and zero dogs.

Daichi had first entered Sugawara-san's life and home three years ago, a fresh-faced college graduate with a degree in kinesiology and a newly minted certification as an exercise physiologist. Prior to accepting the job offer he had heard all sorts of wild and fantastical rumors about the man he was going to work for, but never caught a hint with regard to his new employer's age. He had been expecting an older man, most likely in his sixties and starting to feel the inevitable effects of the aging process. Who else hires an exercise physiologist to come to their home and develop new workout routines that avoid exacerbating old injuries?

He had been beyond shocked when the door opened to reveal a man no older than himself, about an inch shorter and with hair that was an unusual combination of ash blond and silver. Hair that fell in soft waves around his face except for one stubborn cowlick that periodically peeked up from the crown of his head.

Now, three years later, what had started as a three month contract job to help Sugawara-san ( _Call me Suga, please. Sugawara-san makes me think my father is in the room._ ) regain strength after a car accident had become so much more. In a more genteel time and place Daichi would have described himself as the butler, managing the household and tending to Suga's mundane, everyday tasks. In modern terms he figured the title of Personal Concierge or Factotum was more appropriate; either sounded better than live-in errand boy/go-fer/housekeeper/personal shopper/chief cook and bottle washer.

So Daichi had plenty of practice ignoring the crazier rumors about his employer. He was skilled at avoiding conversations with friends and family members who wanted to know if everything they heard about the genius was true. He usually deflected those questions by asking if they had heard that Sugawara was a kind, caring, compassionate man, a patron of numerous children's foundations and charitable trusts, and a demon when it came to Mario Kart. Oddly enough those sorts of rumors never made it to the mainstream.

But what Daichi was not very skilled at was dealing with the pressure of his ever-increasing crush on his employer.

“DAI-CHAN!” The shout preceded the banging open of the kitchen door by barely a second, but it was enough warning to keep Daichi from starting and spilling coffee grounds on the immaculate floor. He didn't even have to look to know that Suga would be flushed and sweaty, fresh from his morning workout, and in desperate need of breakfast.

“Sit,” he ordered as he finished scooping the grounds into the basket of the coffee maker. He smiled to himself as he heard one of the chairs scrape against the floor before pressing the button on the machine. Once the smell of coffee was floating through the kitchen he grabbed a notebook off of the counter and sat at the table beside his boss. “What was today?” he asked, flipping the notebook's pages to the current month.

The daily exercise log had been an essential part of their routine when Daichi had first taken the job. It was his standard procedure with all clients: keeping a physical record of the work they put in helped them to see what areas needed improvement. It also made slacking off less likely, since those occasions were made all the more conspicuous in a log.

They could have stopped using the log ages ago, of course, but Suga had insisted. “Routines help me focus,” he had said the one time Daichi mentioned doing away with the notebook. “I tend to get scatterbrained otherwise.”

“Ten minute treadmill warm up,” he said in response to Daichi's question. “Then two upper body circuits plus half an hour on the elliptical.”

Making notes in the day's space on the calendar Daichi nodded once. “And core work?”

“I wanted to do twenty minutes in the lap pool but I got hungry.”

Daichi laughed. “Good thing for you breakfast is all ready.”

They ate in silence except for the occasional pleased and appreciative murmurs that escaped Suga's lips. One other thing that had been a surprise when he first took on the job had been the pale-haired man's complete and utter ineptitude in the kitchen. “How can you be so bloody brilliant at everything else yet forget you had water on the stove to boil?” Daichi had asked him after one particularly memorable smoke alarm incident.

“Boiling water and app design do not mix,” had been the laughing response.

“So what else do you have planned for the day?” Daichi asked, bringing himself back to the present.

Suga's forehead scrunched up as he frowned. “Work, as usual. I've got a particularly stubborn bit of code that won't come out of my head right. Every time I run a simulation the damned thing does the exact opposite of what I intend.” He sighed and pushed a hand through his hair, grimacing at the grungy feeling. “And this program is for an impatient client, so I can't put it off.” Then his face cleared and he smiled. “What about you?”

“The usual. Grocery shopping, trying to fix the leaky faucet in the downstairs bathroom.” He looked away from Suga as a grin started. “Maybe trying to convince an impatient client to give you some more time.”

“You could call a plumber, you know.”

Daichi chuckled. It was so like Suga to zero in on something like that instead of thinking anymore about the client that neither of them liked. “Nah, we don't need a plumber. I looked it up on-line and it should be an easy fix; I can get a kit with everything I need at any hardware store.” He stood up and started to clear the table. “Don't forget to swim at some point today, okay?”

“Yes, Daichi-san,” Suga replied with a little smile before standing up to stretch. “Do you need any money transferred to the household account?” he asked through a yawn.

“Nope, it's all good.” Checking the time Daichi turned to chivy Suga from the kitchen with a fond smile. “Get cleaned up and get to work,” he said as he grabbed the car keys from the hook by the door. “Lunch at the usual time, okay?”

Suga nodded and then went off toward the main staircase. His progress seemed almost aimless, a sure sign that inside his head he was already eyeballs deep in computer code. Daichi watched for a moment to make sure his boss didn't get sidetracked, before heading out, careful to set the alarm in “stay” mode and deadbolt the door behind him.

The local hardware store did indeed have what he needed to fix the faucet, as well as some good advice and pointers from one of its staff. Confident that the repair would not be beyond his skills Daichi pointed the car in the direction of the grocery store, arriving ten minutes later.

And groaned when he saw the mass of cars taking up virtually every inch of space in the parking lot. It was such an unusual sight for that time of day that he started to wonder if there was some sort of emergency or disaster happening before he remembered. The store had been advertising special sales and a kid's event for the first day of Golden Week. Today, in other words.

He hated to go to the other grocery store in town because this one always had the best fish, but taking three hours to get twenty minutes of grocery shopping done wasn't an option. He slowly maneuvered the car through the crowd and back out the entrance, sighing at the thought of going all the way across town.

His phone rang then, and the display on the console lit up with <Incoming Call: Suga>. He pressed a button on the steering wheel. “Hello?”

“Daichi?” Suga's worried voice came clearly through the stereo speakers. “Will you be back soon?”

“Probably at least another hour,” he replied, checking carefully before entering the stream of traffic. “Ran into a bit of a snag at the supermarket. Why?”

“No reason, but. . . well. . . that leak. . .”

“I'll be home in ten minutes.”

****~**~**~**~**~****

“And by the time I got back to the house the downstairs hall was completely flooded and I ended up having to call a plumber anyway,” Daichi said, taking a sip of his beer. “I'm still not sure what, exactly, happened, but it sure cost enough to fix. And the kit I had bought to replace the washer and screen was only nine hundred yen.”

Ennoshita and Nishinoya both laughed. They were long-time friends of his, going back to high school, so he allowed them certain liberties. One of which was, unfortunately, making fun of his life choices. Especially anything that involved his employer.

They knew Sugawara, of course. When Daichi had first moved into the house Suga had insisted that it was the darker haired man's home as much as his. “Invite friends over,” had been the instruction. “Watch movies, play video games, whatever. Just no wild parties.” There had been a wistful look in Suga's eyes that at the time Daichi had not known how to interpret. It had been nearly six months later before he figured it out; genius, child prodigy Sugawara Koushi didn't really know what it was like to have friends.

“Let me ask you something, Dai,” Noya spoke finally, laughter still bubbling underneath the words. “Did you tell Sugawara-san anything about what you were planning to do with that small leak?”

The question seemed a little odd to Daichi, but he answered anyway. “Yeah, I told him I had found a video on-line and Ohhhhhh.”

“Yup, there's the penny dropping!” Ennoshita chortled. Daichi just covered his face with both hands.

“When am I going to learn?” His words came out muffled from behind his hands.

Noya's laughter burst out again. “You can't give him any hints like that; you know it'll most likely end in disaster!”

And Daichi did know. Like the incident when the water boiled off and the pan burned. Or the case of the vanishing garden gnomes. There was the bird bath debacle and the time he had found car keys in the refrigerator's egg crate. The plastic spoon that had been melted in the microwave. The microwave that had been fried by aluminum foil. The list was almost endless, and those were only the things he knew about or had personal experience of.

“Face it, Daichi, if it isn't on a computer screen, or a tablet, or a smart phone, your boss is a menace to society!” Noya concluded, still giggling.

 _Mostly a menace to my sanity_ , Daichi said to himself with a tiny smile. _But I wouldn't have it any other way._

“Oh boy, there's the look.”

Nishinoya's voice penetrated his thoughts and Daichi lifted his head to see his two best friends exchanging knowing glances. “What look?” he asked, baffled.

“ _The_ look,” Ennoshita explained. “The sappy, lovesick look that you get whenever you talk about Suga-san.”

Daichi choked on a sip of beer. “I do not look sappy and lovesick!” he exclaimed when he could speak. “I do not feel sappy or lovesick!”

But deep down he knew just how much of a liar he was.

****~**~**~**~**~****

“Dai-chan!”

Daichi barked his knuckles on the engine block when he started, wrench slipping off of the stubborn bolt he was trying to loosen. He reached behind him for the wire brush to work some more corrosion off of the battery terminal. “What's up, Suga-san?”

Suga bent closer, leaning on the car's fender. “I wanted to let you know that Asahi will be by with a couple of contracts I need to sign so lunch will be for three,” he said, reaching out as if to touch the battery. Daichi caught his arm and gently pushed it away with a shake of his head and a smile. Then he went back to work with the wire brush.

“Isn't there a better way to do that?” he asked, watching. “Can't you use Coke on it? I read that somewhere.” He straightened away from the car. “There's some Coke in the pantry! I'll get a couple of cans and we can try it!”

“Suga -” Daichi started, but it was already too late. Suga was already through the door and in the kitchen, rummaging around in the pantry. He bounded back to the garage, holding two cans of Coke aloft with a triumphant grin. He set one on the fender then moved to open the other.

Daichi barely had his mouth open to caution against opening it when he heard the distinct pop and then soda sprayed out, covering him, Suga, and part of the car's engine. Not, unfortunately, the corroded battery post. He wiped the soda from his face, knowing he was probably smudging grease there as well, and did his best to glare at his employer.

“Ummm. . .” Suga flicked his damp hair out of his eyes, splattering Daichi with a few more drops of soda. Then he started laughing, stepping in close to his companion. He raised one hand and swiped at a grease streak with his thumb. “You look rather disreputable, Dai-chan.”

Daichi felt that slight touch burn against his skin, and backed away, pulling a rag out of the back pocket of his jeans as he did so. “No more than you,” he said with a smile. He turned away to put up the tools. “I'll finish this after lunch. And a shower,” he chuckled, looking down at the sticky dampness of his shirt. “You too, Sug -” His words died away when he turned back and caught the crestfallen expression on the other man's face. “Suga-san?”

Silver hair flopped around his face as Suga gave his head an almost violent shake. “I. . . I'll be down in time for lunch,” he whispered, then ran from the garage as if the devil himself was chasing him.

And Daichi stood there for a long moment, oblivious to the rivulet of Coke sliding down his cheek, directly over the spot Suga had touched.

****~**~**~**~**~****

Azumane Asahi was a childhood friend of Suga's, one of the very few that hadn't slipped out of the genius' life when Suga had gone off to college while the rest of them were still in junior high. Their fathers worked together, so that family connection certainly helped. And Asahi was someone who had never treated Suga any differently, including him in every childhood game and sport whenever the pre-teen college student came home. He now worked at managing Suga's professional life the same way Daichi managed his home life.

When they had first met Daichi had been intimidated by the other man's sheer size and frightening appearance. But that was before he got to know Asahi, who typified the notion of a 'gentle giant'. He was quiet, almost timid, and probably the most tenderhearted person on the planet. His affection and devotion to Suga-san could not be doubted.

He arrived while Daichi was still putting lunch together, the beeping as the security system was disarmed the only warning before he came into the kitchen. “Did you reset the alarm for _Stay_?” Daichi asked without even turning from the sink.

A slight scoffing sound preceded the “Of course.” in Asahi's quiet voice. There was a rustling of paper as he set an accordion file down on the counter and then the scrape of chair legs on the floor. “Where's Suga?” he asked, taking a seat in one of the bar stools at the kitchen's island counter.

“He hasn't come down yet,” Daichi replied, moving from the sink to collect the plate of sandwiches. He went to the refrigerator and pulled out two bottles of water, tossing one to the other man. “We had a little incident this morning involving a corroded car battery terminal, a can of Coke, and -”

“And Suga, no doubt,” Asahi put in with a laugh. “I can only imagine.”

Daichi pulled the bowl of fresh made fruit salad out of the refrigerator next. “He can be a menace sometimes,” he replied, taking care to sound as neutral as possible. He took a seat across from Asahi and pulled a strawberry out of the bowl, popping it into his mouth. “I sometimes think I'll never learn to understand how his mind works,” he said once he swallowed the sweet fruit.

“I don't think Suga understands too well, either, if that makes you feel better,” Asahi replied with a smile. “I remember I asked him one time what is was like to be a super genius, I think when we were fourteen. He said it was like his brain was a bullet train and his body a steam locomotive, if that makes any sense.” He chuckled. “And then he tripped over a tree root.”

Daichi laughed as well, amused at the thought of fourteen year old Suga. Then he sobered, remembering the almost heartbroken expression on the genius' face earlier. “I worry about him, you know,” he whispered, not looking at Asahi. “There are times that I think my staying here and working for him – keeping most of his life organized and under control – is a bad thing, and then others when I can't imagine doing anything else.” He leaned back in his chair with a groan, staring up at the ceiling. “What am I doing with my life?”

He heard Asahi's gentle sigh and looked down. “It's not like you to be so introspective, Daichi,” he commented. “What brought this on?”

He shrugged. “I don't -” He bit off the words and scrubbed his face with both hands. “No, I do know, I just don't want to talk about it.”

“You care for him; I know. Maybe a little bit more than care?”

Daichi stifled a laugh. “Have you been talking to my friends?” he asked, not able to prevent the twitch of his lips. When Asahi raised an eyebrow in a question he explained further. “They claim that I look 'sappy and lovesick' whenever I talk about Suga-san.” He exhaled forcefully. “I'm beginning to wonder if they're right.”

Asahi looked thoughtful for a long moment, and opened his mouth to respond when the intercom beeped. “Asahi?” Suga's voice, sounding tinny and unnatural, came through the speaker near the back door. “Can you please bring the contracts upstairs to the office?”

The two men in the kitchen exchange a look, shocked on Asahi's part and puzzled on Daichi's. “Asahi?” Suga's voice is heard again.

“Umm, yeah, I'll be right up,” Asahi finally replied with a hasty cough. The click as the intercom disconnected was uncomfortably loud.

Daichi dropped his gaze, not wanting to meet the other man's eyes. “I'll, um, just prepare a plate for him,” he said, jumping up to get a bowl for some of the fruit before choosing one of the sandwiches: ham with Munster cheese and spicy whole-grain mustard, Suga's favorite. He arranged everything on a tray with two bottles of water, then passed it all to Asahi. The taller man looked uncomfortable; he opened his mouth as if to say something but then closed it with a snap, nodding once before leaving the kitchen.

Leaving Daichi to wonder just what kind of emotional storm was about to be unleashed.

****~**~**~**~**~****

“This one is the license agreement that the lawyers told you about last week,” Asahi said as he spread the final bundle of documents out on the desk. “Sunbeam Software wants to take the character and concept you came up with and fully develop a game. Your lawyers made sure that you would have the final say on whether or not the game goes public, and maintained your financial rights in the concept.”

Suga listlessly nodded and scrawled his signature on each spot that Asahi had marked. He had yet to say a word, and his long time friend was worried. He tucked the last contract back in the file and set the entire thing aside, sliding into the chair across the desk from his employer with his arms crossed. “Suga.”

“Stop trying to look scary, Asahi. I know you better than that.”

Asahi grunted and dropped his arms. “Fine. But you have to tell me what's bothering you; you've been completely dull since I arrived.” He glanced at the tray out of the corner of his eye. “And you haven't touched your lunch, even though I know it has some of your favorite things.”

With a scowl Suga pulled the tray close and plucked a piece of kiwi out of the fruit salad and quickly swallowed it. “Happy?” he asked his friend. But that tiny bite of sweetness made him realize just how hungry he was, so he picked up the spoon and scooped more fruit into his mouth.

“Ecstatic,” Asahi replied, grinning in triumph and pushing the plate that held the sandwich a little closer to Suga. He watched closely as his friend took a bite, smiling as the spicy mustard exploded on his tongue.

“Iss goosh,” Suga mumbled around the food in his mouth.

“Of course it is,” Asahi replied. “It's your favorite, and Daichi knows that.” He shifted in his seat, feeling a touch bashful but determined to have this conversation. “He cares about you a lot, you know that, right?” He rubbed the nape of his neck so he didn't have to meet Suga's eyes. When he finally did glance back up it was to see tears in his friend's eyes. “Oh hell, what did I -”

Suga waved one hand, stopping the words. “It's okay, I just. . .” He sat back in the desk chair. “Did he tell you what happened this morning?”

Asahi grinned. “Yeah, you and a can of Coke. Bad combination.”

“Stuff it, you,” Suga growled. “Anyway, it was a totally ridiculous situation, and he looked so funny with Coke dripping from his hair and running down his face that I. . . GAH! I couldn't resist, okay? I just had to touch him, so I wiped some of the soda off of his cheek.”

“And?”

“And nothing! He. . . he jumped away from me like a scalded cat and went about his business, putting away the tools and talking about making lunch. I'm not sure if he was repulsed by my touch or he just didn't give a damn, but either way. . .” He leaned forward to put his elbows on the desk top, pushing both hands in his hair with a groan. “What am I doing, Asahi? I'm a grown man, a supposedly responsible adult, with a full-time live-in babysitter! Dai-chan could do almost anything else with his life if I stopped holding him here, but I. . .” He sucked in a shaky breath and covered his face with his hands. “I'm not sure I can let him go.”

When no reply came right away he moved his hands enough to see his friend, who was smiling gently at him. “Talk to him, Koushi. Tell him what you just told me.” The smile grew. “I have a hunch that the idea might go over better than you think.”

Suga dropped his hands to the desk top. “What do you mean?”

“I mean exactly what I said,” Asahi responded, still smiling as he got to his feet. “Besides, you'll never know if you don't try, right? And knowing for sure has to be better than uncertainty.”

Suga spent the rest of the afternoon holed up in his office but without getting a lick of work done. Instead he sat in the window seat that looked out over the driveway and the front yard, brooding. He was careful to keep himself hidden behind the curtains when Daichi took out the car he had been working on earlier, and he waited for the other man to return before he rose, stretched, and finally left the office.

In the hallway leading to the kitchen he stopped for a moment, listening to Daichi's soft voice as he fed the cats, occasionally chuckling at hungry feline antics. Suga could picture it clearly; Lucy, the large calico boss of the gang, would be winding herself around Daichi's legs while Pan and his sister Bataa would be standing, stretched full length against the cabinets. Most of the chattering and meowing came from the pair of them. Tora and Yuki would be looking on, content to patiently wait for their suppers.

It was a scene that repeated itself every evening, and one that he wouldn't give up on without a fight. And that more than anything made his decision easy; he'd take his chance while he still could. Asahi was right, knowing for sure was always better. He coughed lightly, alerting Daichi to his presence. The other man looked up and smiled, a little uncertainly.

“Umm, I didn't know if you'd be down for supper but I picked up some take-out,” Daichi said, rubbing the back of his neck. “I got your favorite mapo tofu.”

Suga felt his lips start to twitch. “Extra spicy?” he asked, knowing that Daichi avoided such things whenever possible.

“Yes,” was the reply, accompanied by an eye roll. “Just the smell in the car made my eyes water.” Daichi laughed a little. “Made the drive home interesting.” A grin flashed across his face before his expression turned serious again. “Listen, Suga-san, about what happened earlier -”

“Drop the 'san'.”

“What?”

Suga shook his head and smiled. “We've been in this. . . relationship for just over three years. I think we can dispense with the formality.” His smile slipped a bit as a blush stole up his cheeks. “I mean. . . That is. . . If you want to.”

“It's not that I don't want to, but. . .” Daichi moved around the island and sat on one of the stools. “I know it's not exactly traditional, but I do still work for you. A degree of formality is appropriate, I think.”

“What if I didn't want you to work for me anymore?” Suga asked as he took the seat beside Daichi.

The other man's eyes widened. “You. . . You don't. . .” He looked aghast for a long moment. “Are you firing me?!” he finally exclaimed.

“NO! No, but I. . .” Suga's face was bright red as he muttered “Screw it!” before leaning in and pressing his lips to Daichi's.

There was a moment of stunned immobility on the dark-haired man's part before his hands lifted and cradled Suga's face. He fervently returned the kiss until they were both breathless and had to pull apart, Daichi nuzzling his nose in Suga's neck.

“This is why I pulled away this morning,” he whispered. “You touched me and I wanted. . . Hell, I wanted to hold you and kiss you so much, but I didn't think you felt the same way, so -”

Suga chuckled, rubbing one hand through the short, dark hair at the back of the other's head. “I was mad at myself because I couldn't resist you at that moment, but then you were so cold, and I thought -”

Daichi stopped the flow of words with another kiss, hard and urgent enough to make his head spin. “No more thinking,” he growled out before diving in once again, kisses softer, but no less heated.

****~**~**~**~**~****

Hours later a warm, sleep-roughened voice stirred the hair near Suga's ear.

“For the record you don't have to fire me. I quit.”

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, I took a few liberties in interpreting the prompt but this idea is what my brain latched on to.
> 
> Lucy, the boss of the feline gang, is based on my sister's cat of the same name. The sibling cats Pan and Bataa are named Bread and Butter in Japanese (according to Google Translate). The idea for that comes from a friend of mine who has two beagles named Biscuit and Gravy. :D


End file.
